Minnesota Sports Forum

The sand in the hour glass is starting to gather quite heavily on the bottom portion. Rumors are starting to rumble, Flip is using phrases like "status Quo" "not at a standstill" etc etc.

What is going on with this? Even some writers have mentioned that very few to no teams have the cap space available to make a push for him. Is he pulling a AK and choosing not to move forward now that Kahn is gone and Flip is here?

Help me understand guys

I'm not sure there's much to understand since there's very little information coming out of either camp other than what amounts to nunya.

Zgoda tweeted a hunch the other day saying it seemed as if Pek's camp was looking for higher face value based on difficult to reach incentives, so while it might be in excess of $50 mil over 4, the Wolves wouldn't end up paying him that much. It may be a simple case of perception in that Pek wants a contract that puts him in the same echelon as the Hibbert's of the NBA. To me that's interesting in the sense that I believe if Pek took the current offer as reported he would be paid commensurate with his abilities. However, does he or his agent feel his abilities warrant more money, or do they acknowledge his shortcomings yet still feel he should be as overpaid as other top centers because it's "fair market value?"

I'm not too worried. Given the way the market is right now I wouldn't think too much of it. The Wolves are still in the best position to re-sign him. My best guess is that Pek's camp is probably looking for 14 mil a year as opposed to the 12 mil/y that was reportedly offered.

GymRat wrote:However, does he or his agent feel his abilities warrant more money, or do they acknowledge his shortcomings yet still feel he should be as overpaid as other top centers because it's "fair market value?"

To be a fly on the wall during those conversations would be nice. It's always tough to say how these negotiations go. I guess when I think of an agent I just see a blood sucking parasite looking for every penny they can muster. But at the same time I've never met one or have sat in on a conversation so how would I know?

I would hope that a good agent can see where a GM and owner would be coming from when they mention a player's short-comings. They have to know the concerns involving Pek's injury history. Pek is a grood player but for that kind of money there is risk involved for the team vested in a guy who has never played more than 65 games in a full season.

Good questions Slim. This situation doesn't make much sense to me either. I think that most are surprised that the Wolves went as high as $12 to begin with. He said that he wanted "fair market value" and I thought that the Wolves went on the high side of that. I have a hard time seeing a team pay Pek more than that on a long-term deal. It looks like the Bucks might be in the mix, and it is looking like they have to overpay people just to get them there, so maybe they are considering overpaying Pek.

Most likely I would say that Pek is holding out, trying to imply that he has a better offer coming, hoping that the wolves sweeten the deal.

Flip maintaining "Status Quo" seems like the best thing that he can do.

Markkbu -- I think you are right on the money. And I do hope Flip holds his ground. I just don't see paying Pekovic more than $12 million a year (maybe $12.5 million) on a four-year deal. Flip has already shown that he'll walk away from the table if the deal isn't right. He did that in his efforts to trade up for Oladipo. He'll need to show the same resolve here even though it's tough given how important Pek is to this team right now.

Come on, Lip, would you give him $12M or $12.5? I mean, in the NBA, who gives a rip about a mere half-million dollars? :p Don't most folks make $500,000 yearly?

KFAn has a guest called "AP Sports Guy" - sorry don't know his name. He opined yesterday that PEK"S camp will wait another couple weeks to see if some desperate team makes a last second offer at 14 or 15 million a year. Don't know how credible this guy is.

No one pays him more than 12 mil a season. No one can now any way except Milwaukee and they are already loaded upfront.

Let him walk..........


Just kidding ;-)

I wish Jason was on these boards. I remember having an debate/argument with him about how Pek wouldn't get offered more than 12 mil a season. I told him that no other team would want to pay Pek more than 12 mil and he said that there would be atleast five others in the hunt and that Pek was as good as gone.

So far I haven't heard a whisper from another team chasing Pek. Where are you know Jason! Eating your words?